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social psychology
You subconsciously blame victims to preserve your sense of safety.
The just-world hypothesis suggests people blame victims to believe the world is inherently fair.
When you observe someone suffering, you feel an urge to find a reason why they earned it. This protects your belief that bad things only happen to people who behave poorly. It prevents you from acknowledging that random misfortune is possible.
You prefer to believe in justice over the truth of chance.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Lerner, 1965
- What the check found
- The claim is accurate, but the provided reference material was irrelevant (discussing Abba Lerner rather than Melvin Lerner). Melvin Lerner's 1965 paper is indeed the seminal work for the Just-World Hypothesis.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.